Earlier on May 8, CM Rawat had launched the Mukhyamantri Swarojgar Yojana in a bid to provide a common platform via the online portal for job aspirants from the hill state.

Around 60,000 migrants from the state of Uttrakhand have returned home amid the easing of lockdown restrictions. (Vipin Kumar/HT photo. Representative image)

Uttarakhand government on Wednesday launched an online portal, hope.uk.gov.in, which will enable skilled people from the hill state, who have migrated outside for economic reasons, to upload basic details on the website regarding their skill sets based on which they are likely to find suitable jobs back home.

“The website seeks to ensure that skilled people, who are working in other states, can return home and will also prevent fresh migration for jobs,” said Ranjit Kumar Sinha, secretary, skill development department, Uttarakhand.

Earlier on May 8, CM Rawat had launched the Mukhyamantri Swarojgar Yojana in a bid to provide a common platform via the online portal for job aspirants from the hill state.

“This exercise will help us generate data that can be used to find suitable jobs for professionals under the Mukhyamantri Swarojgar Yojana,” the secretary said.

He held out job hopes for people, who don’t possess any specific skill sets. “Those people, who have don’t any skill sets, needn’t lose heart. We can organise training programmes for them,” he added.

The secretary said that the authorities plan to tap villages to collect information at the grassroots level.

“The exercise will give us a sense about the availability of skill sets of villagers. This will help both government and private employers to utilise their skills or whether any training is needed to upgrade them,” he said.

“Employers can also check the availability of job aspirants. For example, if an employer is seeking to hire a cook, that person can get all the relevant data with just a click,” he added.

Rules stipulate that an employer in the public sector and those employing 25 or more people in the private sector are required to notify their manpower requirements to the state government through local employment exchange under the provisions of the Employment Exchange (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959.

The Mukhyamantri Swarojgar Yojana seeks to ensure that the migrants, who have returned home amid the lockdown restrictions, which were imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, become self-reliant. The state government has also promised easy access to loan subsidies to start their own ventures.

State cabinet minister and government spokesperson Madan Kaushik said that the state would provide subsidy on loans ranging between 15% and 25% to those who want to start their own ventures such as a restaurant, beauty parlour, pisciculture, dairy farm, butchery, etc. The migrants’ credit subsidy applications would be approved on a priority basis and banks have been urged to approve loans at the earliest, he said.

The loan subsidies for hills and plains districts would be 25% and 15%, respectively, the minister added.

Around 60,000 migrants from the state have returned home amid the easing of lockdown restrictions. The state government has also evacuated around 51,000 stranded people till Monday evening.